Pawstep
by Shadow Snivy
Summary: Cha, a privileged eevee cub with a cushioned life, wakes up to suddenly find golden furs in his creamy mane. Something as simple as a color ruined his life—or finally gave him some meaning. This is the spark leading him into a darker yet better part of his world, challenging the shadows one pawstep at a time.
1. A Life in Ashes

**Wow. :3  
I haven't started a new story in so long. This is exciting! Hello old Thunder and Ice fans, hello new interested readers, and thanks for deciding to click on this fic. There are literally millions of others you can choose, but you chose this one. I'm honored~**

 **As school has been drawing to a close with exams and end-of-school-year goodbyes, I've been planning this story in my spare time. Thank goodness for summer freedom! Now, fingers crossed that all my aforethought makes this a good tale, and hopefully I can keep up a consistent updating schedule.**

 **Without further ado: Welcome to the world of Pawstep~ ^w^**

 **(Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I don't own Pokémon. *Checks again* Yeah, still don't.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Life in Ashes**

My mom and dad always taught me that change is good. Natural. Beautiful. It shouldn't be feared, but welcomed and accepted. It shouldn't be avoided, because it always appears anyways, like the sun on every brightening horizon. "Change is a wonderful thing," Mom would say, her little teeth sparkling with truth, and Dad followed up all of her sentences with a splendid, "Indeed," like the proper husband he was.

Then, change arrived as it always did: unexpectedly. All at once, my parents rejected all their homely advice, and their shouts shattered the air.

"This is not normal," Mom growled over and over. Dad followed up with a grim, "Indeed," like the proper husband he was.

Everything can change in just a day. When change ends up being _that_ major, I guess my parents aren't nearly as positive about life.

Mom and Dad vanished promptly into another room, discussing in steamy whispers about possible solutions and vain reasoning and the uncertainty of my health. As I shivered to the pace of my unhinged heartbeat and, to my embarrassment, wept a little into my tail—I'm still a cub, after all—a close friend strolled into the room. Her sleepy, honey gaze wandered to the thickest part of my pelt, and in an unamused drawl, the litten asked, "So _that's_ what all the fuss is about? Wow. You can hardly see the difference." She pointed a claw at me accusingly, grumpy that I interrupted her nap with a problem I couldn't control.

"But still, that doesn't mean I'm okay!" I don't want to admit this, but my voice whimpered a bit. Well, a lot, and waaay too much for a grown-up cub like me. "Look at… look at this, Pecha! Eevees aren't supposed to have golden fur. But look, right here and here and _here!_ Streaks of shiny, golden fur!" I fluffed out my creamy mane and ran tiny claws through it, picking out delicate, gleaming strands much brighter than Pecha's mischievously-glittering eyes. "I might be sick—poisoned—diseased! I could tip over and be motionless at any moment! And I—might be—contagious…"

"Yikes, dude, you're hyperventilating. Take a breath. Calm your whiskers. Now, really, who says this stuff doesn't happen?" Pecha pounced onto a nearby sofa and began casually grooming a paw, a reflection of her no-care philosophy. She sounded only half-interested in the conversation. "You're clearly fine and dandy, only a little stressed and worried and et cetera over exaggerated fantasies. Maybe this is a weird side effect of puberty, huh? You never really know. Science is always so finicky and mysterious like that."

Falling to my hindquarters, I continued brushing claws through my gold-speckled mane, hypnotized with the gesture since it warded off my panic. "My parents are eeveelutions, Pecha. They know that eevees don't just wake up one morning with something like this…" When I noticed her attention more on her cleaned paw than me, the tips of my ears burned fiercely. "Mom and Dad know much better than you, at least. You're not even considered part of society." She still didn't even look up. I really, really wanted her attention. I wanted to feel like I mattered. "How would you know? Look at me! Look at me, Pecha." She took a heartbeat of time, and she slowly glanced up, bored. Feeling so unappreciated, I didn't bite my tongue in time. "You're just our pet, Pecha, so stop acting so high-and-mighty."

I earned two surprised blinks and an uptight scoff. My forepaws froze in my mane. Her attention was definitely not worth my outburst, so I regretfully backpedaled. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, that was stupid of me. You know I don't mean it that way. I consider you much more than that. Technically, though, you are… well, you know, a pet…"

She flicked her tail sharply: a dismissive gesture. "Hmph, no worries. I can't deny the legal paperwork, and it really doesn't matter. My feelings aren't as sensitive as yours, ya dork." With softly glowing eyes, Pecha played her signature no-hard-feelings smile, and the mood lightened. My claws slowly combed along newly shiny furs again as she continued, "Maybe you should take a nap. Ya'know, that always helps me, whenever something's amiss…" She yawned and stretched while flexing her claws and bristling her fur. "In fact, I think I'll take a li'l one right now, so you should join me~"

The idea was inviting, especially when comparing the cozy couch to the slippery, unwelcoming, cold-to-the-touch ground. The floor, the walls, and the dome-shaped ceiling—it was all finely sculpted from ice. Even the most dingy couch was a sight for sore eyes. But, in spite of this, I bowed my head apologetically. "I'd love to join you, but there's no way I can nap right now. I'm too, well… confused, and restless. I think I'll go visit Uncle Citrus, maybe do some stuff for him to get my mind off things. He always has something in need of doing."

"Hmmm… Ya sure? It's veeerryyy nice here… and I'll even curl up with you. I don't do that often, ya'know." Her purrs echoed warmly, trying to captivate, but even the languid litten with a clever tongue couldn't convince me otherwise. She always slept any worries away, but in my case, I had to work off my anxiety, pushing myself until exhaustion clouded my head.

Without bothering for my parents' permission since they always approved of Uncle visits, I trudged for the entrance to our icy abode. My paws slipped ever so slightly with each step until I bounded outside, finding much more traction on a layer of freshly-fallen snow. The tundra greeted my presence with a great gale of whistling wind, flopping my ears around and flaunting my new golden furs.

I loved this place. The chill, the snow, the biting winds. A lot of Pokémon thought this place to be dangerously cold and isolated, which couldn't be denied, but if I could only describe Icecap Village in a word, it was home. From the day my egg hatched, this place was the only safety I'd ever known, and I felt for sure that this would never change.

My muzzle nestled into my fluffy chest to protect my nose from frostbite. I took one strong step at a time, my pace a steady and stifled _thrump thrump thrump_ among bales of snow, and I never looked up from my paws until I reached the village's outskirts. Ice and snow stretched for many miles, starting a deathly journey that I wasn't headstrong enough to tread. Before one first entered into this uncharted wilderness, they faced a tiny igloo with a spooky aura, the oldest home of the village. This was truly the destination for me as I shuffled up to the fortified steel door and knocked using tiny, painless headbutts, my paws and tail too stiff and weary for the job.

The door whirled open effortlessly. A burst of slightly less-cold air warmed the contours of my face, only a little, and I waddled inside. By the time I managed to shake off my stubborn, thickly-built coat of snowflakes, Uncle Citrus had closed the mighty door and already rushed into his igloo's depths, swiftly back to business. I bounced a little energetically after the scrawny glaceon with slightly unthawed paws, calling, "Uncle Cit, Uncle Cit!"

He sat on his musty work pillow again and mingled with strange items on his cluttered desk. Technology littered the room in an organizational catastrophe, all the equipment so advanced and bizarre that, despite visiting this place since before I could talk, I still had not a clue what most of the doodads did.

Azure paws worked quickly across dozens of seemingly identical buttons, typing on his keyboard. Citrus refused to break concentration with a radiant piece of glass on a big box—a computer, something I could never understand—and this was his work, sunrise after sunrise.

"Um… Uncle Cit?"

Cave gray eyes rolled towards me in faint happiness. "Sorry for the drab welcoming, Cha. I'm glad you're here. I appreciate your company over anyone else's." He faced me a little more as his eyes crinkled gently, caringly, like a sunflora's smile in his gaze. To every Pokémon Citrus didn't know, this glaceon always had such an unfriendly composure, so the affectionate words in his mostly-monotonous tone seemed to lilt, gracing my ears and cheering my heart. "What can I do your visit for? Would you like an introduction to another gaming console, learn about the more old-fashioned devices that I own, or maybe we should continue your touch-typing lessons?"

"Eheh, nah, not any of that. You seem too busy for the stuff, anyways—one of the Goddess' deadlines is coming up, I suppose?" He coolly nodded. An amazing fact about Citrus: he knew our world's ruler. He understood technology _that_ well! "Well, I want to help you out any way I can. You usually have a lot of errands… Can I take any off your busy schedule?" I reached a decision in that moment. As casually as I could, I lowered my head, fluffed out my tail, and beamed like Pecha when mid-nap—anything to distract from the telltale glimmers in my mane.

Don't get me wrong—I really, _really_ wanted to ask about my peculiar new furs and their possible meanings. That was actually the main reason I visited my Uncle, because if anyone could solve the mystery, Citrus could. Sadly, though, something he could never possibly do was missing the Goddess' deadlines. I promised myself to ask him later, at least by the next morning.

"Ah, that's so kind of you, Cha. You know, you're a fantastic protégé in the making." I fizzed once again with his compliment as he slipped a worn satchel over my head, monetary clinks jingling from somewhere inside. He talked as he worked, fleeing to his desk and swiping his paws across dozens of buttons. "It would really save me some time if you bought my dinner for me. Just head to Alfonso's and"—a machine whirred to life, screeching dully with processing sounds that made me jump—"hand him this paper, all right?" An impressively clean, unwrinkled paper edged out from the noisy gadget—a printer, another thing I could never understand—and he rolled it up neatly into my maw. The scroll felt warm and fragile, and I cared enough not to bite it too hard.

"In the bag's outermost pocket is all the necessary Poké for purchase. Hand Alfonso the paper and the Poké, and you're sure to go. Thanks a bunch!" By the next heartbeat, his muzzle nailed shut. He was slow to emotion but quick to productivity, so his calculating eyes swerved back to the screen, dutifully cataloguing a history of information. I playfully saluted in Citrus' honor, bracing for the totally fun, exciting, eventful trudge to the opposite side of town.

As the wintry chills crept up my legs once again and I marveled at the wonderland of white, I spat out the list, read it over, and blinked at its simplicity. Citrus' meals were always small and cheap. I quickly stuffed the paper in the satchel's depths because I didn't want snow ruining it, marking it with hard creases.

I left shallow, white pawsteps all the way across village, all of them easily destroyed by the snowstorm once I lifted my paw. A welcoming yellow light beamed from an always-open window, the take-out counter of Alfonso's Butchery, and I circled the only brick-made building in the whole village in order to go through its door. Instantly, I felt warm, and scents of freshly-roasted meats and berries blessed my senses. A bell perched in the doorframe alerted everyone of a new presence, especially the one with two fuzzy red ears that perked just for me.

Strolling past fireplaces and oak tables led me to the flareon with a woodsman's charm. "Hey hey, Chimichanga. Nice to see ya again, little kiddo." Alfonso knew everyone, which wasn't too impressive a feat. This was a small village. "I almost never see ya here—unless you're on your ole uncle's behalf, eh?"

"Mhm, it's for my uncle, sir." I dug out the paper and handed it to him.

"Hmm, let's see what he's cravin' this time! …Mhm. Lots of natural veggies and berries and hooey, and… aha, yes, no meat!" A hearty chuckle. "I expected as much." He passed the sheet to some employee, a jumpy furret that always blasted to work without a second breath. As she zipped away, Alfonso, a little bored and always talkative, leaned over the wooden counter towards me, a foreleg sprawled out and his elbow supporting him. "Not to be mean, but, well, your ole uncle's a big knucklehead." I moved my ears around, not sure I heard him right. Not to be mean, he said? "Ya'know, 'cuz he's eating this way. All eeveelutions need meat, we're omnivores, but he doesn't even touch delibird or cubchoo. That's all the affordable stuff out in this wasteland, cheap cheap cheap, 'cuz we kill them every day. It has all your needed nutrients. It's smart. It's survival. Your ole uncle has been a cooped-up hermit for too long, much too long. He doesn't even like berries from a snover, haha! I bet he's slowly wilting in his li'l prison, amiright?" The furret employee returned, which Alfonso hardly noted in his friendly banter, and she nuzzled a large paper bag across the countertop. Hurriedly, I fished all the Poké from Citrus' satchel, almost dropping the coins in my haste.

"Cruelty-free, my butt. Why does it matter? No one but us eeveelutions have any rights, anyways."

Poké scattered noisily by Alfonso's foreleg. "Keep the change," I said, and then I grabbed the paper bag in my teeth.

"Don't chu agree, Chimichanga? Might as well make use of the low-lives, ha-harr! That's all they're good for anymore, foodstuff, except the cute domesticated things used as a pet or somethin'. Your uncle really needs to—"

"Goobwai, Alpwonfo." My voice came muffled, but he understood me. Before he could blink, I swerved on my paws, starting a brisk walk for the main door.

"Oh. Okay then. See ya later, my Chimichanga!" The same homely jingle signaled my exit and, outside, I rounded the corner with stiff stomps. I found an untouched slope of snow against the wall and clumsily tossed the veggie-based meal aside. All four of my legs quaked with emotions I couldn't describe, ears twitching and flicking, fur spiked with a lively bristle that allowed too much cold to touch my skin. My emotions felt so out of control, first with Pecha and then with Alfonso. All of the flareon's words, those 'not to be mean' words, clawed around in my head.

Unable to stop myself, I screamed into the snow.

I shouted and cried until my legs shook with sleepiness and nothing else.

The thing is, I agreed with everything Alfonso said. Meat tasted amazing, was cheaper than crops in the tundra, and I loved meats with a strong smoky flavor. It seemed absurd to not even have a little meat daily. Alfonso, in many regards, was right to me—but I hated him for insulting Uncle Citrus. No one—never ever, not under the sun or moon, not on these very grounds beneath such a hopeful sky—vandalized his good name like that. The blunt flareon had no right to those insults. Citrus was the best uncle in this world; he was the smartest Pokémon in the whole dang town; he worked for nothing less than the Goddess! The rest of the village didn't even know what the Goddess looked like. I respected Citrus' way of life, and everyone else should've done the same.

"Alfonso is a stupid head," I mumbled into my golden-streaked mane, and I pulled the paper bag close to me in protectively stubborn teeth before latching it safely in the satchel. My paws glided me across town and my rambling thoughts quickened the time, so I was already butting a steel-enforced door within heartbeats.

After his door creaked open, Citrus' almost invisible smile made everything better again.

Uncle Citrus never ate at his desk, afraid of staining his precious equipment or dusting it in crumbs impossible to ever brush away, so he ate on a wooly rug with this folktale feel to it. He nibbled on his favorite berry, a juicy, citrusy Sitrus—silly, right?—as I just sat and watched. Like always. He usually offered to share his meal, but not only did it taste bitter but all I only cared to bask in his glorious aura. I worshiped Citrus a bit, if I wasn't secretive enough about it. He was my role model. One day, I hoped to type almost as quickly as he did, even when computers made no sense, and maybe I could meet whoever the Goddess is and work as this glaceon's nobly appointed apprentice… Maybe my revering was a little excessive, but when someone so clever, so important, and so habitually-cold regards you as a close friend, it really made you feel special.

Gray eyes zeroed me out, sharp but warm. "So, how's your family?" He always asked the questions, curious on my life away from this abode, which honestly never felt eventful.

"Weird as ever, I guess."

"Any interesting hobbies you've picked up?"

"Nope, just the usual. Doing chores, playing with my pet, visiting you when I can…"

"Anything new going on? At all? Any funny stories you wish to share?"

Hesitance let me choose between the truth and lie. "Uh, not really, no." Citrus wordlessly finished off the remnants of his vegetarian dinner as I meekly shuffled my forepaws. His long, elegant blue tail twirled over to clean his muzzle like a napkin, and he eyed me as he dabbed his mouth, a little suspicious. I felt nervous sweat coming on until his suspicion dialed back, and he shot up on all fours faster than a sugar-high rapidash in a race. _Back to work for him,_ I thought, relieved for only a moment.

"Cha?" His voice became ghostly, his fear near-contagious. "Your mane."

My ears pointed skyward. _Oh. Oh no._ "Um, yeah, I think I spilled some… juice… all over it? Yellow juice. Sitrus juice, maybe. Yes. Exactly that." My left forepaw absently ran through the soft, silky furs again, and I wondered why I still tried avoiding the conversation I craved. Citrus' gray gaze darkened, a stormy torrent that, with lightning-like fierceness, scarred me with guilt. _You're an awful liar,_ his silence criticized. "I'm s-sorry, Uncle Cit! I came here in the first place to see if you knew anything, but, but your deadline…" I hung my head. "The Goddess is your first priority."

"But you still matter, Cha!" His anger echoed, so he took a steady inhale, cooling his temper and softening his eyes. "You'll always matter equally as much to me as the Goddess does, if not more so. Cha, this… this is very, very serious. When did this first show up? Who knows about it?"

My panicked heartbeat thrummed in flattened ears, almost distracting me enough from answering. "I… I-I woke up this morning, and the gold fur was there, but it wasn't there the night before, and… and only my family knows. Mom, Dad, Pecha… maybe Alfonso, if he saw, and now yo—"

"Oh geez, this is awful—grave—catastrophic! You need to— but, Goddess…" In that moment, his eyes gleamed dangerously like swords in a fierce parry, which meant he was settling a huge decision. "I need to contact Axel, and you need to go away, far away from here."

"Axel? Who's Axel? And… a-away?" My paw pads suffered a horrible itch.

"You're not safe. It might seem like I'm lying, but I swear on my life, bad things will happen if you stay. Awful, grave, catastrophic things." His stare shimmered like dueling swords again. I did everything I could to choke back my tears, so desperate to know that if I wasn't safe at home, where would I be safe? "I'll do anything to make sure you're not hurt, Cha. Anything."

I ached with the desire for an alternative, but Citrus knew best. He was much, much smarter than me. "Can I bring my family along?" I squeaked, throat tight. He shook his head. "Not… not even Pecha? I really love her, my little litten…" Another headshake. "What about you? You're coming with me, right?" It was just headshake after headshake. My chest burned at the thought of leaving with no one but a complete stranger. "Why? What does the stupid gold mean? Why is this happening to me, some random eevee in a small village, out of… of millions?! Bad luck? Fate? Wh-what's going on, Uncle...?"

His mouth hung open, a weird and faint attempt of explanation perishing on his tongue. His ears twitched downward as he hid away the answers. "I'm afraid that if I explained any of that, you'll probably be too overwhelmed to leave. I'll… I will eventually tell you, definitely, so don't fret too much. Just because we won't leave together doesn't mean I won't ever see you again. I need to stay behind, to deal with the aftermath…"

 _So this isn't forever goodbye._ The thought fueled my flimsy courage just enough. My paws, ears, tail, fur—it all crawled with frosty acceptance. "When am I leaving? N-now?"

He considered it. "Tonight, when everyone is asleep. Goddess will know I did something if you disappear now, on my watch"—he caught my confused gaze—"because she always finds out these details, and I will be instant suspect. Every eevee and eeveelution is special to her, so she manages to find out everything." His self-calming inhale was shaky, and tears sparked in my eyes. I never saw this side of him. His steely expression: gone. His cool and even tone: gone. His composure was broken, faltering, and emotions leaked out before he could repair his mental barrier.

"Head home and do your best to act normal, okay? Please? Go to bed early, so you have some rest before you leave, and just… relax. That's all you need to do. You'll meet Axel soon and he'll lead you through everything. Okay? Just act like life is normal." He paused, breathless at these revelations and the faulty future to come. "You know I love you, Cha."

Despite the tears, my heart shined, as if polished by his words and glistening with his sincerity. "Y-yeah, of course."

That was our goodbye. Uncle Citrus guided me to the door, nuzzled my cheek since we wouldn't see each other in who knew how long, and the thick metal separated us. Behind that door, Citrus already sat at his computer and worked with doubled effort and intense speed, but he no longer spent it on his original project. I sighed, my breath visible mist before my nose, and began my measly trek home.

* * *

 _"Pecha, I'm taking up your offer a little late. After doing errands for Citrus, I'm really tired!"_

These words of mine pounded relentlessly in my head, going on and on like the crazy snowstorm outside. In the darkness, so sleepy but so alive, my thoughts didn't know how to shut up. That moment, those sentences, replayed over and over and over with shame. I lied! I actually lied, straight-faced. In front of those that knew me best, I looked sleepily happy at the idea of a nap, my teeth bright but my smile lazy, and my family actually believed me. I technically half-lied, since Uncle Citrus' errand _did_ tire me out before he turned my life upside-down. Also, I said errands! Not errand. I did only one errand. How did I get away like this?

Insisting on an early nap only gave me more time to think, think, think. I tossed around in my little bed, restless, cornered with too many problems. My fur burned beneath my blankets, but I felt too cold and foreign without them. Exhaustion travelled through my entire body, but my legs pawed and kicked fitfully, trying to get comfortable. I drove Pecha into another room when my squirming shook her off the edge of the bed. The absence of her deep-sleep purrs couldn't be ignored, the silence inside and faint winds outside almost as loud as my thoughts.

More than anything else, I was worried sick about Axel the stranger. How would he find me? How would be take me away? How likely would I be caught escaping? Would he just pop up in my window, break open the glass, and whisk me away to another life? That would be scary, because I don't have a window, because hail pulverized any and all glass within heartbeats.

I had the strongest feeling that, once Axel arrived, if he arrived, I'd be unable to stand up with how tired I was. In the very least, I should've been sleeping. I shouldn't have skipped dinner in favor of suffocating under my blankets and thoughts. Axel was going to be mad.

Honestly, I don't know exactly when Axel ended up arriving. I don't think I noticed him right away, because he sounded annoyed when he spoke up, especially with a whisper-yell of, "Wake up already!" Or maybe that was his personality, to be loud and straightforward like that.

I looked up, a dark ceiling. I looked left, a wall of ice. I looked right, my empty room. "Psst," he hinted, and I looked straight to spot him on my bed within reaching distance. Within heartbeats, I realized this guy was very smart and stealthy, because he predicted my next move before I knew about it. He swiftly reached forward, stopping my girlish scream before the entire village knew I was awake.

With his paw over my mouth and a shushing moment of nothingness letting me calm down, I scanned my partner in travel. He carried the very same satchel that I had earlier that day, probably a last-minute farewell present from Uncle Citrus, and he had some weird accessory on his face that scared me—which Axel later explained to be sunglasses—so my gaze hardly lingered there. Large, graceful fins curved off dark blue parts of his head, and the same dark blue colored a line of ridges along his back. His body carried all sorts of subtle curves, smooth like a current, and this massive tail stretched out behind him, drifting slightly to a silent, watery rhythm. This shifty, masculine aura seemed to haunt him. To say the least, this vaporeon was intimidating.

The aqua-shaded paw pulled away, and I whispered, so quiet I could barely hear myself, "You're Axel?"

"Yep..."

"How did you get in here?"

"I've done this a lot before."

"Are we leaving now?"

"You bet."

"Can I trust you?"

"I don't even trust myself, but I'd die before I let anyone touch you. You can count on that."

Axel's voice always sounded so cutting, dangerous, like an icicle, yet he cared more than he let on. If I had to treasure his memory in one way, this detail would be it.

I was led to my bedroom door, led through a hallway, led towards the front door. Axel guided me wordlessly every step of the way, but even with so little for me to think about, one mistake could ruin it all. Noises echoed easily in a house of ice, so my fur stuck up a little more with every tiny mistake I made. On the slow and sneaky way out, I recalled how I irritated Pecha out of my room, and my earlier embarrassment changed into relief. If Axel had come with her still there, escaping would've been significantly harder. Part of me, though, still wished she stayed with me. She would've ended up catching us. She would've either forced me to stay home or I could've properly said goodbye.

After what felt like a tense eternity, Axel closed the front door, the two of us on the opposite side of my sleeping family. I had never done something so risky in my life. I wanted to cheer, to flaunt this feat. But, I realized this wasn't the last time I'd take a risk, and it still wasn't over, so I stuffed away my excitement for another day.

Moonlight dusted the landscape, faint but broad and very, very eerie. Some snow twirled by my paws, slow and pretty, like a lonely dance in the night. My mane looked a lot more frosty than creamy. Even when my new vaporeon partner broke the sound of the tundra, saying, "We just survived the hard part, but we still gotta hurry," the peace and glory of the moonlit village could not be ruined.

Just like he ordered, we hurried. The magically glowing snow sprinkled in the dust of our dashing paws, glittering ghosts of our pawsteps, and the moon faithfully kept lighting the land so we didn't stumble in shadows. This long-winded moment of us leaving the village—the dance of happy, sparkly snow around us, the cool white reflections of the moon on Axel's shiny skin, the excitement and wonder and fear and love beating so quickly in my heart—will always be my favorite memory of home.

It can't really be visibly defined when we left the village, because the ice and snow all looked the same. We wandered and wandered and the buildings shrunk from over our shoulders, but when I really, _really_ noticed how small those buildings were behind me, I finally decided I was no longer home. As the two of us carried on peacefully and silently, I wondered: would I live to see home again? I wanted to ask Axel, secretly craving for comfort from someone, but his character still unnerved me in ways. Would I ever really go back home, back to my family, and would I ever sit with Uncle Citrus on his wooly rug ever again?

That's when I heard a very sudden sound. A loud, fierce, scary sound. I turned around. So did Axel.

The one color I almost never saw was blaring: red, a lot of red. Redder than Alfonso's fur, redder than the meats of his butchery. Yellows and oranges mingled in with the light, but it was mostly red, and dear Goddess, it was bright. My eyes watered at the brightness, as if the cascade of smoke was somehow stinging my face instead of the sky. The explosion was small but mighty, bursting to life. My heart burned exactly in the same way, my emotions sudden and unexpected and choking and oh so powerful.

Uncle Citrus—Pecha—Mom—Dad—Alfonso. Nothing but names and faces blurred in my head. Was Icecap Village gone? I didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be; it had to be. Did that mean all of those names and faces were— _poof_ —gone as well? Like my pawsteps in the ice-flecked wind?

"Come on, Cha," Axel said, as if Uncle Citrus wasn't caught in the explosion. As if Uncle Citrus never lived in that village and couldn't possibly be dying.

His aqua paws continued calmly ahead, and after much staring at those colors so uncommon in this tundra, I took one step after Axel. Despite my restless thoughts back in bed, I could still walk. Another step. Another, another, slowly starting up again, and once my paws reached a momentum, endless realizations hit my head, one after the other.

My village was attacked because of the gold of my mane. Someone hurt others because of me. I would never be going back home. I would never see my family again. My old life was gone, in ashes.

Everything can change in just a day.


	2. Sightseeing

**Wow. WOW. THIS CHAPTER GOT LONG WITHOUT ME KNOWING IT. 9K WORDS. There's no way another chapter of Pawstep will be as long as thing one, aha. Enjoy the extra long chapter! X3**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Sightseeing**

In every direction, snow and ice glowed hopefully with the stars and moon. Axel and I stomped and stomped with the vaporeon leading forward, but I had no idea where forward led to. All the same, no sign of something new. The emptiness of the tundra mostly distracted me from the new emptiness of my life, so I welcomed it until hillier country disrupted the flatness. We treaded the curves of stranger territory, the land erupting into lively, icy slopes that obscured how far I saw into the distance. It showed just how far we had travelled, how far my tiny paws wandered from my home in ashes. I paused with every rise and fall of the hills, scared and awed and stunned, bursting with so many feelings that clashed with each other in a beautiful but dizzying way. Axel carried on with a strong, raised head and attentive fins, his pawsteps knowledgeable and precise. He was a good leader. He'd been through these hills many times before, I could tell, and he memorized their weaving paths well.

The gloom hung so heavy all this time that neither of us said anything, only occasionally throwing out basic questions to make sure neither of us were dying, and I loved this silence: at first. Then, my thoughts hurt my own head. If thoughts could hyperventilate, that's what was happening, all of these ideas mixing and switching around, my mind almost as disorganized as Uncle Citrus' treasury of technology. I kept thinking back to the explosion, the death I left behind. My entire world was melting behind me, and the always icy land and always snowy air wouldn't stop reminding me of it. This wasn't even my world anymore—I faced a new future, a new life, a new world, all alongside some sketchy vaporeon with sporty sunglasses. Yet, every step felt so familiar and automatic, just like moving through town on the typical day.

I needed conversation. What was one of Uncle Citrus' super fancy words for unbearable situations? Harrowing—the silence was harrowing.

"Um, Axel?" I struggled speaking loud enough over the screaming wind, which whipped dunes across the snow and sparkling dust in the air. "What do you think of the gold in my fur? Do you have any idea what it means?"

"I'm sure you're slowly becoming one-hundred-percent yellow, from golduck gold to a pikachu hue, because Citrus influenced you too much with Sitrus berries. It's like a special kind of allergies, ya'know?"

He had answered so confidently, so seriously, without even once peeking back at me. "Really, you think so?"

The vaporeon's head snapped back, his muzzle exploding with laughter. "Ahaha, you're just priceless. Pokémon that grow up in the middle of nowhere end up so gullible. You have as much innocence to lose as you do baby fat!"

With my steps growing heavier, I realized this sketchy vaporeon wanted the conversation dead, so he toyed with my feelings as the best way of doing it. I nearly accepted this, returning to silence and gusts for noise. Then, with a determined inhale, I vowed to trigger some form of meaningful conversation.

"Um, Axel? I… I really miss my family…"

"Yeah, and I miss my bed. Just kidding, I don't have a bed. To be honest, I kinda miss us being quiet."

 _…Really? Did he **really** just say that?_

"You're really mean."

"Aha, I haven't met a girl that's thought otherwise. Ya'know, in a lot of ways, I act like a stupid guy on purpose to get out of sentimental talk. I'm not a diary for you to cry on."

"Girl? Whh, but—Axel, _I'm a boy!"_

"And I'm the prince of Timburrtu." He blinked, he snickered, and he howled with one giant laugh. "That was a good one, Cha. Not exactly comedian material, but you're on your way."

"I'm not lying!"

"Oh, really? Like I said, I'm a stupid guy." He paused, rethinking. "Wait, no, I take that back. You look and act more like a girl than any guy I've ever met, except for this one gay umbreon. Princess, how was I supposed to know that?"

"Hey, don't call me nicknames, dumbo!" Before I found a proper way to vent, I lifted two claws and pinched a tiny part of his finned tail. His entire body swerved in one frightful jump. His yip echoed far and his paws scrambled fearfully, snow flying, and he faced me with eyes ablaze from behind those sunglasses. "You're stupid and annoying," I said, giggling despite his rage, "but so am I, and I think you're funny. I like you."

His muscles dropped out of a natural attack pose, and he cracked a light smile. So did I. "Hmph, fair enough, fair enough." He nodded a few times as if we reached a compromise. I thought we reached good terms because of this, but then the vaporeon sighed. It was an irritated sigh, and his fogged breath smeared his sunglasses quite a bit. "Are you sure you wanna talk?"

An easy response itched my chest—"Why wouldn't I want to talk?"—but then I clamped my teeth down. His voice had iced over, vague enough that I questioned it and understood what was unspoken. Axel held the encyclopedia of answers ripe for the page-turning, but the knowledge would change my entire perspective on my life, or whatever was left of it. I craved answers, but my shoulders hunched at the thought of actually discussing them. I wasn't ready for the truth. I wasn't ready to leave my destroyed life yet.

My silence was my answer. The vaporeon sighed again. "Honestly, I think we should save all the important plan stuff and blah blah blah for later. Whoever or whatever blew up your town might be following us, so we need to focus on travelling for now. Follow closely, Princess, and let's move with a little hastier, shall we?"

My eyes sleepily fluttered. "Don't call me Princess," was all I could say before we trudged faster than ever.

Not long later, we reached the top of a hill that rolled down to snaking water. I had never seen a river before. With my limited sights, I frankly hadn't seen much, but seeing this with my own eyes really baffled me. Back in the village, my parents taught me of their pristine blue waters and of the marine life—with both vaporeons and a buffet of Pokémon seafood—powering along the currents, a symphony of Pokémon and nature.

Instead, with the river that Axel and I approached, I nearly squealed in fright. The water shone black in the night, too spunky to freeze over. It all roughly shifted and churned: strong, constant, choppy, the antonym to the lazily gleaming stars above. Crescents of moonlight circled around the edgier waves, the contrast of black and white seeming to confirm death to all that strayed nearby. It looked too dark for life to swim through, too scary to ever wade across out of fear of being sucked in like quicksand.

"Staryu Strait," Axel breathed. His sunglasses twinkled as darkly as the fiercely-tossing waves. "Now, thiiis is the hardest part."

"Hardest part?" I squeaked. I almost sweated despite the billowing snow and the ice wedged inside my claws. "You said getting out of my house was the hardest part!"

"That was the hardest part for me, leading a baby like you out of there. Ahaha, Princess, this'll be the hardest part for _you,_ so I recommend either jumping into this satchel or holding on tight." He said it so casually, so welcoming, despite the real danger to his words.

"D-Don't call me that," I whispered through jittery teeth. I sunk to the icy floor, whimpers tearing at my throat. My ears flattened so they nearly touched the ground.

All of the things I didn't want were happening. I didn't want to go. I wanted my village back. I wanted my family and my pet and Uncle Citrus and happiness back. All at once, instead of choosing to ignore the truth, I wanted certainty. Certainty meant the first step into whatever my scary future held, but in that moment, certainty outweighed my stubbornness of staying a carefree cub. "Why are we going in there, and are we really swimming across? That's scary! Why's it so black? Where the heck have we been going this entire time, Axel? Do you even know or are we just walking around until we die and that looks like a really cold and scary river and I really really don't, want, to, _touch, it!"_

His laughter echoed around in spite of my worry, which made me want to pinch his tail again, or pinch his eyes. Whichever made him yelp louder. "Again, we need to focus on travelling. I swear, once we get through the roughest parts of this river, I'll tell you anything. Staryu Strait heads through the mountain range and away from the tundra, so once we make it out of these hills and mountains—"

"No! I won't wait!"

"I'm going into this river with or without you, so make your decision." Glancing past my shaky paws, I caught his glare, and I debated whether to call out the bluff or not.

"J-just… please, tell me something… I-I'm falling apart, I'm gonna faint… pl-please…" After a quick breath and noisy sniffling, I managed to talk a little better. "Where are we going?"

"We're going somewhere safe, okay? At least, I'm dropping you off safe and you're going to be staying with nice, caring Pokémon. I'd love to elaborate, but—"

"W-where am I going…?"

His paw glided up, rubbing his scrunched-up forehead as he pleased my desperate ears. "We're going to the biggest urban success around: Prairie City. It's named after the fact that the majority of a prairie was destroyed to make room for civilization. We're currently in the Highlands, an icy area at a high elevation, and Prairie City is in the Lowlands, which is easiest to reach by swimming to the end of Staryu Strait. It weaves down through the mountains—much better than going over them—cuts across the rest of the land as it levels out, and empties into the ocean. From there, it's easy to find the lagoon that's part of the city's outskirts. Okay? Happy now, Princess?"

"E-eheh, yeah, th-thanks…" I sniffled so many times. It was embarrassing. "B-but Axel, if you _have_ to call me a nickname, at le-east don't call me a girl, please, maybe...?"

"Okay, Princess."

I didn't even bother to groan.

Gathering up all the courage that a cub could possibly have, I climbed onto Axel's back with a tired, "Oof!" The vaporeon's teasing melted away in an instant, his fins stunned with worry. "Hey, I was kidding about this being an option! It's much safer to be in the satchel—and I brought it along just for carrying you, too! You sure you wanna do this?"

"Mhm! I'm sure!" My paws scrambled for his white collar, and poor Axel yelped for the moon.

"'Grr, that hurts—paws off the merchandise! There's no way you can afford it, anyways!"

I moved my paws, awkwardly hugging the vaporeon's waist. "Let's go, please," I said, before my instincts could scream a reminder of how much trouble I just committed to.

Without a decent warning, his body jerked below me, and pure darkness blasted my face. The world instantly changed. The busy buzzing of the river thrashed from all directions, scary and loud and eternal. The scent of freshwater. Sprays of water so cold, it stung like tiny icicles. Axel swam so seamlessly with the stream that he nearly slipped free of my paws, but I dug my claws in enough to not fall into the black, even at the cost of piercing his hide.

This was the coldest, darkest, scariest thing. Nothing could top Staryu Strait, not in that moment. Everywhere, water water water, moving faster, so swift and dangerous. So dark. I lost my sight, I slowly lost my touch, and all other senses were pretty much useless anyways. It was just me, my deep-clawed grip, and the splashing darkness from all around.

I wasn't thinking, wasn't moving, doing one thing and one thing only, yet that one thing drained energy from every fiber of my crumbling being. I held on, but I grew close to failing, so I concentrated less on the task. Even as my ears and paws numbed, making me unable to notice if my claws still held on, I tried my best to think instead, feeding myself hope. My head repeated _This is the hardest part_ and _It'll be over soon_. When the mantras became too dull to inspire me anymore, I thought of pleasant memories. With my family. With Uncle Citrus. With all of Icecap Village.

Then, my ears flicked with dying life. I heard Axel's smooth voice in pieces, something about a faster river. Falling water, and lots of it. He sounded completely relaxed, but my every fur stood static-straight, as if as physically shocked by his words as I was emotionally.

"A waterfall?!" I shouted, or at least I tried to shout until water flooded my mouth. I spat and coughed painfully, so consumed by the motions of it that I've easily forgotten if I yelled anything at all.

"Hold on, Princess!"

I heard Axel much better this time, but only because we were in air for a few long heartbeats, the stream only a distant murmur. The only thing I could feel was my crazily thumping heart as we fell for the black waters below. Axel thinned out as he dove down, probably looking like some elegant creature with purpose as we fell, but I only dropped with him as a weight of soggy, terrified fluff.

If I saw our splash as we landed, it probably looked amazing from all angles. Bubbles rushed around us, around me, loud and frothing. I realized my paws glided through water without aqua hide to hold on to. Axel had disappeared just like my village, like my family, just _poof_.

It was like I entered another world. I needed air. Which way was up? Everything was dark. How could Pokémon breathe in here? Flailing, screaming, drowning. I tried to move—I needed to move—but I couldn't move. My entire body ached, urging me to open my mouth, to inhale deeply and greatly because maybe, just maybe, the water would turn into air if I did. Was I dying? Was I already dead? If so, did this mean I would see my family again? Would my family tell me which way was up?

But, Axel was determined to go against the oxygen-deprived thoughts. Teeth latched onto my mane and tugged me up, up, up, wherever that was, refusing to let me die on his watch. He held me above the surface and I could hear and understand the world again, water emptying from my ears. I coughed, I breathed, I coughed, and I breathed. All of my insides felt sore from working so much harder than normal to stay alive, shuddering an insane amount to spread warmth through my body again.

"Put me… p-put me down…" That's probably what I said. Probably. I felt so light-headed at the time, so the memory is incredibly foggy right here. I kinda remember Axel trying to put me in the satchel, but I flailed with my limp limbs—I refused!—until he gave in to my half-drowned wishes. I ended up on somewhere dry soon enough, and I did nothing but shiver for who knew how long. Axel licked my fur in his lame way of cleaning me faster, and I'm sure he'd act different if someone he knew was nearby.

Eventually, I stood with enough strength to shake my thick pelt dry. I looked around, then I looked at Axel. The ground was wet and green. Axel looked inexplicably calm, just like when Icecap Village went up in flames. This is when it finally clicked to me that Axel wasn't quite the emotional type—maybe that's why he always wore those sunglasses.

"Where… are we…?" I could hardly believe my voice, all raspy and gross. Was I really the one talking?

"We're on one of the ridges to the side of the waterfall. After going along the river for a while, it's literally all downhill from here, but it's kind of a steep drop, so it happens over a series of waterfalls. There's at least a couple more to go…"

He gave lots of useful info to pay attention to, but my slightly drowned brain could only focus on the green around my paws. "No, I… I meant…" Seriously, what was this green? I like to think I'm great at describing my surroundings, but I struggled here. It was soft like snow—no, not soft: smooth. Slick. An aurora of different shades of green. I dripped water everywhere, and the puddles made it curl up around me.

"What is this green, Axel?"

He glared disbelievingly from over the top rims of his glasses. The fins lining his head flared like nostrils, widening and flexing in what was probably anger.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"My dear Goddess, you can't be serious. You nearly died, but you want to know what grass is, of all things."

"Grass?" The word rolled so weirdly on my tongue. "Grass. Grass! Grass is really cool."

The vaporeon shook his head, rubbed his forepaws together, tugged at his ear fins and the back of his neck and tail—many things, except look directly at me. "Wow. Just… wow."

From there, Axel rambled and rambled as I returned to thinking normally again. I stared at the grass instead of Axel like it was the most interesting thing in the world, which was one-hundred percent true at the time, until the vaporeon said, "This time, you're going in the satchel," and I remembered he mentioned more waterfalls were in my future, and I loudly went, "No!" because _forget_ more waterfalls, that sounded scary, and since I voiced that really furiously, he wouldn't fight my need to rest. In fact, he wandered a few paces away, leaving me alone with my loopy thoughts. With my grass fascination still at an all-time high, I messed around with the blades some more until the green, green, green became as uneventful and tedious as with everyone else. With that stupidity out of the way, what was I supposed to look at now?

Sleepily, I looked up to the stars.

 _Strange,_ was my initial thought, because my surroundings had changed so drastically. The last time I saw the sky, ice scrawled out in every direction. River sounds over blustery wind, steep mountains over flat land, and green, lots of green and brown, like all the places where white should've been was instead copious with grass or dirt.

I guess this meant I really wasn't going back home, no matter how much I missed it.

When I remembered why, I struggled to look away from those bits of gold, the little touches of color responsible for my ruined life. Tears rushed down my face, from the freezing wind and freezing water and my slowly freezing heart. After looking back and forth between the stars and my mane, I plucked out one of the accursed, shiny furs exactly like a piece of grass. My squeaky, _"Eep!"_ voiced my regret.

"Geez, cub, don't hurt yourself like that." My tail shot alive with twitching as I located Axel, his sunglasses glinting in my direction. I must've looked sad, too weak to rebel against him any longer, because he padded silently to my side. His long tail waved around me, pulling me close. I couldn't have pushed him away if I wanted to. I gave one pathetic bat with a paw and didn't try again.

"You've been going through a lot right now, and I know you didn't ask for any of this, but neither did I, all right? We're all suffering tonight. But I'll take all the blame 'cuz I'm the adult and I'm responsible for you. Heck, I was supposed to cubsit and I nearly killed the cub! I think that goes to show I'm not exactly qualified for this."

I almost started laughing. Before I did, I started crying, and I pressed my head to Axel's side as if nuzzling into Mom's very warm fur. The vaporeon petted my head and then perked a bit.

"Princess, 'ay, I got a story for you."

"Stop calling me that…"

"That isn't an option by this point. Anyways, Princess, look around. I know you already did, but look farther, look past the horizons. You can see a lot more up here than back in the tundra, right? The world is truly a massive place. It makes you want to look around all night, too." To emphasize his point, he pawed off his glasses. His eyes shined like a river—not the nightmarish black one, but the rivers from my parents' stories, the ones with pristine blue waters. His eyes were like a very calm and shiny one, soaked in sunlight but glittering like a starry maze. It made Axel look a lot different, but a good different, and definitely a lot less scary. "I think nature will always be wonderful, even after little things like the waterfall shaking you up. For instance, a while back along the river, we went through something called a fjord. My dear Goddess, grass is nothing compared to fjords, Princess! Maybe I'll show it to you one day in a better situation, because everyone deserves to see such a breath-taking sight."

I'd been waiting for an opportunity between his sentences to ask why he explained this, but he had hooked my attention, so I listened closely like the awe-eyed cub I was. The waterfall, the explosion, the gold mane held fresh in my mine, but hearing something so irrelevant to all of that made me feel better. "Now, in such a massive world, there needs to be things living in it, or else it's an injustice, right? Well, well, we certainly live here. You can find eeveelutions at every corner of the universe—we're that great at adapting, after all. It's what we're meant to do. Yet, meeting strangers out here is very, very uncommon. It's mostly silent in nature like this, and to you, that's normal. For generations and generations, this has been normal.

"Princess, try to imagine this for me. Imagine a world when everywhere, in the streams and trees and clouds, there was the sound of Pokémon. The chirping of kricketune, the singing of swellow, the roar of a luxray. You might not even know those Pokémon, but a long time ago, everyone knew everybody, prey and predator, carnivore and herbivore, on and on. Back then, I could share the beauty of water with so many other water-types. Back then, hearing true silence was a frightening thing, because it happened so rarely! Can you imagine that, a world packed to the brim with noise, nothing but noise? And life! Packed to the brim with life!

"Now…? Now, us eeveelutions adapted a little too much. Now, the idea of wild Pokémon is so foreign, I bet you failed to imagine that. The world is so empty because hundreds of Pokémon used to be equals, but now only nine of them have any rights."

"That's so… weird?" My tired brain could only offer so many words.

"Weird indeed, Princess." And with a stylish twirl and a toothy grin, he flipped back on his sunglasses. "Yeah, I know that was very random, but I'm sure you feel calmer than before. Once, when I was as miserable as you, the Goddess told me stories like that to calm me down. It really helps, right? Stories can be an escape from reality, and all of us need an escape from time to time."

"Wait, you… you knew the Goddess?"

"And I still do."

This is where I admit I was so sleepy, so drained, that I could hardly stand on my own four paws anymore, swaying like a metronome. Was I seriously supposed to quiz him further? How? I still couldn't remember which way was up! There's no way I'd forget his words, though, and I saved the inevitable Goddess conversation for a better time.

As my head bobbed with sleepiness, the vaporeon easily switched topics. "Cha, on another note, I've noticed you've been pushing yourself a lot. You've been trying to ignore what's happened by doing other things, but it's tearing you apart! It made you think risks are actually genius ideas, like not riding in the satchel just to prove you can handle it." I'd never heard him sound so scholarly, so wise, and I never would again. "Just… know your limits, Cha, or else you'll push yourself to breaking point. You'll never be the same after that, and chances are this is a change you want to avoid. I should know." He lifted a paw on instinct, brushing it against the side rim of his sunglasses. His expression flattened, so longing and empty. I wondered, what could he be remembering, and when was his breaking point in life? "It's great to find an escape from reality, but if you do it too much, you'll never actually live. And honestly, the world isn't half-bad."

I expected anything else but that, but I hadn't been able to predict a lot of things lately. "Thank you?" I managed, but despite my uncertainty, I glowed with his genuine kindness and insight. I fidgeted a bit, too, squeamish from being inspected so closely without me knowing. To think, he observed so much from behind those sunglasses.

A smirk livened up his face again. "Now, let's try travelling again, and this time we'll conquer Staryu Strait with you in the satchel. I'll lock you in properly, I'll hold it in such a way that there's no risk of drowning… I won't let you get anywhere near death this time, Your Highness." He twirled his paw in a mock-bow, as if a servant submitting to his master.

I sleepily hiccupped. "Ehehe! That's a new one."

"Yep, and Your Highness isn't going away anytime soon." Even with his sunglasses, I could see his oceanic eyes sealing a promise. That sentence had a double meaning.

* * *

After a long, dreamless nap, I woke up with the worst stiffness in my neck and uncomfortably stuffy air. I noticed my paw pads wrinkled up a bit from water, and some fur seemed permanently plastered to my skin. "Ew, I thought water was supposed to clean Pokémon…"

My shifting around drew the vaporeon's attention, so he unbuckled the satchel and I groggily popped out. Sunlight overwhelmed my vision, hot and intense enough that I winced. My fur bristled with the humidity but no cold scratched at my skin, just heat and moisture and the tenderness of the wind. My matted tail fluffed in all directions, shocked at how warm the world could be.

"'Woo, Princess, you're awake. About time."

"Don't call me… pfft, I give up."

I absently picked at my hideous fur as I gazed around. We drifted down a lazy river gleaming with the sun, Axel's tail gently swishing in just as gentle waters, and on either side of us were variant bursts of green. So much green, here and here and there, sprawled haphazardly all over the ground and perched in the tightly-packed trees. So many trees! So many leaves! I tossed out a paw and let it drag through the waves, which still felt cold but not drastically cold. It was a refreshing cold, a pleasant cold. We had travelled so far!

"'Ay, isn't this place much better than last night?" The vaporeon shone with the most leisurely smile. I nodded slowly, hypnotized by it all—I couldn't believe how nice it was! "I love the tropical feeling of this area. Whenever I can help it, I come through here during daylight, because no part of Staryu Strait feels better. This part should be renamed to Slowbro Strait, if you ask me."

"Wow, how can this be the same river?" I lifted my paw, invigorating drops racing down my fur and back into the stream.

"Don't ask that. I'll turn into a geek about water, can't help it."

I gasped. "You? _A geek?"_

"Deep down like a trench. See? Couldn't resist that comparison." Within heartbeats, he heated with embarrassment at what he just admitted to and submerged his head, bubbles swirling impatiently around him. I laughed with him. Even my laughter sounded different in this new environment, melting in with the warm winds instead of ringing emptily across never-ending ice.

The moment felt so amazing, so free of worries. The tranquility, the perfection—that's what reminded me of all my tragedy. My ruined village, my dead family, my new nothing of a life. My body stiffened with the alarming clarity o fit all, laughter immediately holing up in my chest.

Axel's head rose and it shook, drops skimming off his head fins, his newly washed skin like a shiny glaze in the sun. His smile was genuine. His relaxation was genuine. "Heeey, Princess, what's up?" He didn't even sound mocking or fake, just being a genuine friend with genuine curiosity.

It took me a moment to put my weird feelings into words. "Axel? How… how are you so casual, after everything that's happened? Even though Icecap Village is… probably gone?" I had to tack on _probably_ , because the hope of everyone being safe burned stubbornly in my heart.

"Geez, why do you always ask so many questions?"

"Because I know nothing."

"Ha, good answer. Maybe I should ask more questions."

"Axel…?"

"Princess~?"

"How are you not bothered?"

My persistence ruined the mood, tension crackling between us. Axel huffed with a soundless snicker, his body heaving with the motion but not actually making any noise. "What happened was a tragedy, but I've seen a lot of tragedies in my life. To be blunt, I'm not affected anymore unless it directly impacts my life or my friends. I knew only one Pokémon in that town, okay? And that was Citrus. Princess, if I know anything in this life, you can count on me when I say… Goddess would never let him die."

With an assumption, my hope flared. I recalled that when I left stealthily with Axel, I hadn't spotted one family member, not any townsfolk. The excitement was thick in my voice. "Would she let everyone die? Do you think she knew about the explosion, and she evacuated most of the village before it happened?"

The vaporeon hesitated, his sharp teeth held open but his tongue frozen. That should've been indication enough, but my own faith blinded me, all up until he shook his head and mumbled a dreadful, "Probably not."

My ears drooped down either side of my head like dead weights, the truth brutal and unforgiving, but I still had some hope. We didn't know this yet—we hadn't seen them die. The chances were low, but what if they somehow escaped?

I refused to face reality. I'd cry on the spot if I did. "Why is Citrus an exception? How do you know…?" I flashed back to admiring the silent world with Axel on the ridge. I remembered when he mentioned the Goddess' storytelling, his affectionate but lonely tone as he recounted this. "Are you also an exception, Axel? Do you work for the Goddess like Citrus does?"

"Uh… frankly, this world has a weird mechanic. We all believe in Goddess, we worship Goddess, but we don't even know what she looks like. There are guesses—a specific eeveelution, a cool combination of all eeveelutions, maybe something else entirely—but no one really knows. Only a few lucky ones know more than the rest, and only the Legendary know her personally. Most Pokémon only believe in her, not know her, so most aren't exceptions, but… I know her quite personally. So, yeah, I work for her. I'd be an exception."

"What? So that makes you a Legendary? A Legend?" The title sounded mystical, and it seemed too big of a title for Axel while at the same time fitting him in a cool way.

"Weeell, I'm not really called Legend, but I'm part of a group called the Legendary. One of each eeveelution is a member of it, eight members in total. Citrus is part of it, I'm part of it. All of us love Goddess and she loves us back. She loves every eevee and eeveelution, obviously, but… we're like her hands for the world. Her delegates. We've been trained to manage the world with her in our own special ways."

"Wow, that's… cool." Again, my tired brain could only offer so many words. He finally told me the important stuff, but the info was so overwhelming.

"Princess, I'm gonna tell you something that'll make you feel like the most special eevee ever. Ready?"

"Um, I think?"

"The Legendary are going to be taking care for you. Ta-da! Cue the confetti or something." He slapped the water with his tail, the celebratory splash working well enough. "Well, technically, we've already been doing that all this time, with Citrus watching you since birth and me making sure you don't walk off a cliff, but the rest of Legendary hadn't even known about you. Now, we're all dead-set on protecting you, especially the ones living in Prairie City. It's not an order from the Goddess, but… Citrus has us all convinced. We believe there's something special about the gold in your mane, so we're gonna work with you to figure out the secret, okay? If it's major enough, maybe you'll become close with Goddess as well. We'll see what life tells us."

"U-uh, but will I be safe?"

"Safe? Of course you will! You couldn't end up anywhere safer, Your Highness."

I blinked. That's all I could do: blink after blink. I tried convincing myself that Axel was lying. This sounded so lucky, and in the past, I was never a lucky eevee, so it also sounded impossible. Not being caught in my village's explosion might've been my biggest stroke of luck yet, but that paled compared to gold bringing me so much misfortune over fortune.

"That's a lot to take in," I said. I couldn't think of anything else but the blatant truth.

"You'll get used to it, Princess. This is your life now."

"Does this mean I'm going to be pampered, and stuff?" I wept a little at the idea. With my family dead and the village gone, I had no right to any special treatment. I deserved to be with my family, wherever they were, either lost in the tundra or forgotten ashes in the wind.

"Pssh! _Pampered?_ " Spit flicked off his mouth. "Not where you're going. Princess, you're not actually becoming a princess. You're being protected, not promoted. You're gonna be expected to help out where you're going if you want to live there!"

While processing all of this, I stared hard at the river, and I unconsciously noticed that the current had quickened. I clenched my fangs tight, terrified of another waterfall. "A-Axel, are we—?"

"Nah, Your Highness, we're safe. Have you noticed Staryu Strait widening over time? That means we're reaching the end of the river. This is where it all dumps out into the ocean, and it's where we finally start walking again."

I freed my forepaws from the satchel to prop them on Axel's back, peering past his finned head. Sure enough, the land seemed to retreat away from us. It expanded into a very wide river and, on the horizon, I saw a definite line of luscious dark blue. Over time, the line grew, it sparkled dazzlingly—the ocean! It was everywhere like grass, even more so probably, and it continued to the left and right and straight, forever and ever.

I also spotted a heap of green—another land mass—splitting the river in two where it met the ocean. "Is that… an island?"

"Yep, Princess! That's Berry Island, exactly what the name sounds like. It's small, but its soil is very fertile. From pechas to orans to all those weirdly-named ones—they grow as many kinds as they can. They taste a lot better than store-bought berries in Prairie City, no denying that." As Axel sped up, I lazily curled into the satchel again. His paddles had a louder, hastier rhythm to them. "Ya'know, it's our last chance for a stop before Prairie City. Want a late dinner break?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yup!"

When we arrived where the stream forked, Axel swam up to the left side and dragged us onto the mainland. There was mostly rock instead of grass, because nearby it settled into unfertile, pure white sand, which the low tide lapped peacefully against. I tumbled out of the satchel so Axel could carry it with him, to fill it to the brim with fruit as we travelled.

"What's your favorite berry, Princess?"

"Sitrus." I beamed proudly with the answer.

"Wow, that glaceon has practically brainwashed you. At least he's a positive influence. Kind of."

After a playful salute, he dove into the stream and leapt up on the opposite side. He scaled a metal-linked fence before I realized his jump had ended, evaded barbed wire at the top, landed safely on the opposite side, and slithered away among the berry-plump bushes and trees. He did it all faster than I could blink three times.

I groomed my mucky fur in wait for the vaporeon, who very skillfully scaled the fence again with a bulging bag of berries. My eyes sparked with awe since fruit was such a rarity in the tundra. Diving across the river had soaked through the leather and thoroughly washed off any pesticide, making it safely edible for our greedy stomachs. We both wolfed down a few—dear Goddess, so much flavor!—before continuing our journey, keeping left and following the coast.

"If we follow the coastline here on out, then we'll wind up at a lagoon," Axel explained. Surrounding the lagoon will be all sorts of tropic buildings, the outskirts of Prairie City, and the city continues much farther inland. There are a lot of sights to see, so many nice and bad things… and don't be upset if you get overwhelmed, because nothing else can be more different from your tiny ice town." He went on a tangent about this urban area because when he wasn't too busy trying to act edgy and cool, he actually loved to talk. My focus easily drifted, thinking back to the explosion and Staryu Strait and the group called Legendary and Uncle Citrus and my family and Icecap Village and Berry Island with its spiky fence.

That fence. Gosh, that fence. That fence was inconvenient. Why wasn't there an easier entrance to the island? Maybe there was, but it had been built somewhere too bothersome for Axel to swim to. Still, nothing with such a dangerous design ever existed in Icecap Village. After all, no one worried about security back at home. We all knew each other, loved each other, looked after each other—I never heard the word crime even once in all my days there. Understandably, I was clueless towards these security measures. So, why was the fence so spiky at the top? Axel could've gotten hurt!

That's when I finally realized the fence was supposed to hurt Axel. He was just too swift for that, too skilled. Why was he so skilled? Had he done this before? He was babbling about Prairie City so innocently.

I watched the sand sifting between my claws, feeling lost and uncertain as I silently questioned this vaporeon. I hadn't dared really question his character too much since he seemed to know Uncle Citrus closely, and I always trusted that glaceon, so I assumed Axel to be an equally as good Pokémon. But as I thought and thought and thought, I realized I didn't know the vaporeon as well as I believed.

Why was he such an expert at sneaking around? How did he know all about where was what in the world? How did he know the story about when nature was noisy? How did he afford all of those berries? I hadn't heard or seen any Poké in the satchel, so how could he afford even one? Had he ever lied to me? If so, when? Was he truly my friend? And why _did_ he always wear those sunglasses, even at night?

I had a nasty suspicion and it didn't settle right with my fur.

"Axel, did you buy these berries?"

He paused mid-description about some bakery, confused and then understanding. He didn't speak up for a moment. Then, he laughed.

"It's not that bad," he mumbled, so quiet that my ears twitched to hear him better. He started rambling again, nervously. "I know the owner of Berry Island. He's the leafeon member of Legendary. He'll know that I took the berries, because he can always tell when I come and take some, and he's always okay with it because we know each other so well and—"

"A-Axel!" I tried to sound assertive, demanding, but that's obviously not a strong point of mine. Surprisingly, he still shut his maw and he listened. "Did… d-did you buy those berries, Axel? Give me a direct answer."

His snicker wasn't mocking this time, but scary. Cutting, like an icicle. Strong with shame. "…No, I didn't buy those berries, Princess. Goddess has given me a lot of money for all the hard work I do, but I never withdraw any of it from its safe."

With that line, I was ready to ask a lot of things—if he thought I asked a lot of questions before, he was in for a treat—but Axel couldn't just pause and listen anymore. "I know, I know that makes absolutely zero sense. So why did I steal? Why am I a criminal, but I'm part of the Legendary? I know how crazy this sounds! At least hear me out before you say anything." I finally closed my muzzle and plopped into the sand, ears shoved forward in attention. The vaporeon took a calming breath like Citrus always did.

"For the longest time, I didn't know Goddess, and the Goddess didn't even rule yet. I had no money. Dirt poor. Just barely before I reached the preferred age for evolving, my parents were caught in some brawl with brutally trained Pokémon from what I've heard, and we never even found their bodies. I became the oldest one in the family, and I had a den filled with five starving younger siblings. What was I supposed to do, Cha? No one would help us. No one would give me a job.

"I grew up rough. If you couldn't steal a meal, you were worthless. Pathetic. Having a nickname like Princess was a blessing. You starved, no one helped, and no one had your back, ever. I evolved into a vaporeon to make taking things a little easier—vaporeons are slippery, sly, edgy. It worked, but it worked too well. I started stealing stuff that I didn't even need, and the first thing I stole"—he tapped his sunglasses, my paws flying to my mouth—"were these. So, I'm a kleptomaniac. Ya'know, someone who tries to stop stealing things but they can't? It's is just too ingrained into me. It's instinctual. Some habits never die, Princess, or they die hard."

I waited for more, but he merely clasped his forepaws together and flashed me a defeated grin. "Whaddya have to say about all'a that, huh? Whaddya think of me now?"

"Um…"

"What, vaporeon got your tongue?" He chuckled cruelly at his own joke, and I didn't join him, instead settling with silence. "Ahaha, nah, I steal things but tongues is not one of them. Anyways, that just goes to show you that I'm insensitive about this subject, though I probably shouldn't be—just… don't be afraid to say something bad. I can take it. I can take anything."

I smacked my dry lips together a few times before I whimpered, "Why do you still wear those sunglasses? Isn't it just a sad reminder?"

"Oho, why here's a story for ya! I haven't told anyone this in a long time." He carefully took off his shades for this, revealing his icy eyes swimming with years of suffering. "By this point, I was beyond dirty. I was scum. There's only one sibling left to take care of, the rest all grown up and taking on the world somewhere else. I'm out and about doing whatever when pretty lady soon walks by me, nicely groomed and definitely privileged in some respect. I go up, I nearly mug her, but when I try stealing from this beautiful creature, she pounces me. I never expected someone so pretty to be so strong, and she went and broke my tail! It was agony. She approached me as I writhed around and whimpered like crazy, she stared hard at my stupid mug, and you know what she said? She said, 'You have been through a lot, and I want to help you.' You thought I was crazy, huh? And you know who she turned out to be? She was the Goddess.

"She asked me to take her to my home, but I wouldn't calm down enough, my tears wouldn't stop. So, she dragged me behind the nearest shrub, and she told me stories. I lost myself in her words and I felt a lot better after she did so. I led her to my crummy house and introduced her to my one sibling. I told her about my situation, my dead parents, my kleptomania, how I just wished for my siblings grow up safe and happy. After listening to me for so long, Goddess spoke for the first time in that afternoon and said, 'Those sunglasses over there look very well-made. They're not yours, are they?' I told her, 'It's the first shiny thing I ever stole,' and she asked, 'Do you remember where you stole them?' and I just shrugged. She then said 'Since you can't do anything else, I want you to wear these sunglasses. Wear them no matter what, during night and day, through snow and rain, because this shows how dark the world is when you're a criminal. When you finally beat your stealing habit, break them. Break them into as many pieces as possible and throw them away.'"

The vaporeon stare at the eyewear on the ground, and he wiped the lenses a bit before putting them back on. "You still have a long way to go from breaking those, huh?" I asked. He nodded once.

"Soooo, where was I? Ah—after that, she invited me and my little sibling to live with her, and then to join something called the Legendary. Of course, we both agreed because we'd earn money and be well-fed, and we've been part of the Legendary since that very day. I've found out my siblings have all wound up in good places, and my littlest sister and I are both going strong with working for Goddess. It's pretty… 'ay, Princess, what's with the waterworks?!"

Embarrassed, I quickly brushed away the tears still on my cheeks, sniffling crazily like the emotional mess I was. "You w-wor-rked and s-suffered for so long, and it really paid off in the end… a-and… I really wish I could've worked hard, t-too, because maybe, somehow… I could've saved my family like y-you did…" I laid belly-down in the sand with a paw pressed against each sore eye, feeling tired and drained all over again. Axel closed the distance between us, and his slick touch rubbed gently along my back. "Axel, I-I miss… my family… so, so much…"

"It's gonna be okay. Princess, look at me. They're in a better place. Just keep marching on for them, okay? Hey, don't look away yet! They'll want you to keep going and keep living. You're going to a better place too, but a different one, and I know it's better because my sister owns it. You'll love her, Princess. She's a lot nicer than me! And she probably won't call you Princess and know you're a boy from the get-go, so I bet that'll be nice."

"I really l-like you, Axel…" His paw froze along my back, obviously expecting anything but that. "You did a lot of bad things, and you still do bad things, but you're a good guy." I thought back to our tranquil dozing along Staryu Strait, how we both admired the scenery, how we both probably wouldn't trade that moment together for anything. Being with Axel was like moving from out of the tundra, going from sameness to a world of ups and downs. At first, I hated the world outside of Icecap Village, especially after enduring Staryu Strait, but I loved the lazy part of the river and the sparkly ocean and Berry Island and so many berries and all this green, so much happy and hopeful green. I decided the ups of the world were worth the downs.

"Can you please stay my friend? Axel?"

The aqua paw unthawed from its stupor, patting me roughly and playfully like a true buddy. That's how he answered my question, which was a strong, silent yes. He didn't want to admit something so sappy. Instead, he said, "Get up, Princess, 'cuz we still have a journey to finish."

* * *

When the sun barely touched the ocean on the far horizon, we had miles left to go but we still spotted the city, soft specks of light chiming from the windows and streetlights. As we grew closer and the sky grew darker, the lights multiplied, little sparks keeping the town bright. Entering Prairie City felt like night and day at the same time. Darkness coiled along every corner and sidewalk and alleyway, but a rainbow of lights stained the ground and walls, keeping absolute darkness at bay. Pokémon still wandered the lamp-lit streets even under the stars, which was rarer to see than berries back in the tundra. Just like Axel claimed earlier, the city advanced the further we walked, buildings being made of sturdier material and in bigger, taller portions.

The vaporeon trotted a little ahead of me to scout the area and encounter any possible dangers before I did, but he stayed close enough so his tail waved by my flank, so no one could confidently nab me from behind. "There are sometimes dangerous Pokémon out here in the city," he insisted. He had acted so easygoing in the country, but this urban life made him very wary and anxious, which quickly rubbed off on me.

"Am I really gonna be safe here?"

"Oho, like I said, you can't be any safer."

"B-but it doesn't seem like—"

"Princess, your tail is freaking out."

That effectively shut me up, too busy fretting over the long furs twitched into disorder.

My new home dwelled in what appeared to be the shopping district of Prairie City, all the buildings made of decent material and standing at a decent size. Just one of these stores equaled the majority of Icecap Village combined into a giant mass, but compared to those darkly looming skyscrapers so high in the sky, they weren't nearly as daunting. Our aqua and caramel paws trekked until landing on a stone porch, standing before a simply square building made of light tan birch wood. In a lovely, girlish style of handwriting with thin letters, _Kit Kat Bakery_ spelled across the top in a royal purple, and the door had an adorable heart window carved into it. A beaten closed sign dangled on a tiny hook just below the heart, swaying softly in the nighttime city air.

Axel took a deep breath, and he exhaled all the stress and responsibility of transporting an orphaned cub. It took a few years of age off his face. "Welp, here you have it. This is my sister's place. They should still be up late expecting us, so just knock on the door and you should be fine. Good luck with the new life, be healthy, be smart, make good choices, yadda yadda. See ya later, Princess." He turned, already strutting away, and my ears flattened on either side of my head.

"See ya? But—you're not even staying the night? Why do you have to leave so soon?"

"Well, I need to head back to Icecap Village, or whatever's left of it. Do you think I'm not gonna look into what happened? There've been a lot of mysteries lately that we're short on answers to, and only so many Pokémon care to investigate an isolated town in the tundra. I need to find out what the Goddess knows about the incident, where Citrus is, if there were any other survivors, any clues to the explosion…"

"Um, d-do you really think he's still alive?"

"Citrus? Of course. Like I said, the Legendary is so close to the Goddess' heart, there's no way we'd be allowed to die."

Relief flowered across my fur. He sounded so uncertain on everything except for that specific detail, and knowing I might've been able to see my precious uncle again, even if not the rest of my family… It was something. "When do you think I'll see him again? What did you think caused the explosion and what about—?"

He held up a shushing paw, knowing I'd ask him anything and everything until sunrise. "I dunno when you'll see him, and from what I know, the explosion was probably caused by a who, not a what. I do have my theories, but I can't really speculate right now with so little to go on. Please don't ask anything else, because I know zilch, zero, nada."

Axel did everything except satisfy me, but I blinked back tears and gulped down my anger. _He's gonna find out everything,_ I told myself, and I thought this over and over until I actually believed it. I had to be a big cub. It's what my family would have wanted.

"If you find out something really important, can you tell me?"

"Sure. Look forward to a visit from me or something, or maybe a letter."

"Do you promise?"

"Whatever you like, Princess."

As quiet as can be, I inched towards the door with the heart, tiptoeing as if I'd step heavily on glass shards if I wasn't cautious. I evened my breath on the doorstep before I turned around to wave goodbye, but had Axel disappeared from his spot. Realizing he already departed on a more difficult journey for the truth, I missed him immediately, the mischievous twinkling of his sunglasses strong in my mind. Maybe he missed me even more, so he left so quickly to make it as painless as possible.

I raised a balled-up paw, ready to confront Axel's sister and her friend and whatever new life had been set up for me. I almost didn't knock, twitching everywhere in paranoia, but even if I didn't and walked away, where else was I supposed to go?

 _Thmp thmp_ went my paw, and within heartbeats I heard noises clamoring inside.

This was where the adventure really started.


End file.
